Many of
today’s visitors who flock to Bath in the west of England do so because of Jane
Austen. The great novelist (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and
Sensibility, etc.) lived in Bath (although she never really liked
the city), and you can still walk through streets of beautiful Georgian houses,
perfectly preserved since her day.

But Bath is older than Jane Austen.
Much older; its origins go back to Roman times. It was the Roman invaders who
first discovered the waters that give the city its name. They built great
square communal baths, which can still be visited and are fed by the natural
springs that pour forth the water famous for its healing properties.

Centuries later, the fashionable
people of Austen’s day flocked here to drink the water, take rest cures, and
enjoy a social life of dances and dinners, music and gossip. And they did
plenty of building: The Pump Room, central meeting place for the fashionable
and the famous, still welcomes visitors for tea served with elegance and style.

Bath has one of the finest abbey buildings
in England, magnificently restored as part of a Millennium project in 2000. The
building today is owned and used by the Church of England, but for Catholics,
there is much to see that is of interest and importance. This city, first
developed by the Romans in about the year A.D. 60, has evidence of Christianity
from about the time of A.D. 270-300.

The first Christians here would have
been Romano-Celtic: Catholic, loyal to Rome, worshipping in Latin, conscious of
belonging to a universal Church. Later, after the Roman withdrawal from
Britain, the pagan Angles and Saxons arrived, and there was a major battle, the
Battle of Dyrham, in which the Saxons captured Bath.

St. Elphege

But these pagans were converted in
their turn, and by 676, there was a Christian convent in the city. By the
middle of the next century, Cynewulf, king of the West Saxons, granted land to
monks to build an abbey here.

Bath
Abbey was, and still is, dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. It has a special
resonance in English history because it was here that Edgar, the first
effective king of all England, was crowned in the year 973 in a great ceremony
at which Sts. Dunstan and Oswald took part. Today, a plaque in the floor
commemorates this and notes that Queen Elizabeth II and the duke of Edinburgh
came here in 1973 for a service to mark the anniversary.

Just a few years later, in 980, St.
Elphege became abbot here. His feast day is this week, on April 19. By now,
Bath Abbey was of major significance in the life of the nation. Elphege’s own
life, however, was not an easy one. Appointed archbishop of Canterbury, he took
up new responsibilities in London and would later meet his death there,
martyred by savage Viking raiders when he refused to renounce his faith after
he was captured by them. He was slaughtered at Greenwich on the River Thames,
where a church is dedicated to him.

After the Norman Conquest, the Saxon
abbey that Elphege knew was rebuilt on a grander scale. Then there was another
major rebuilding in 1499. This is substantially the building that we see today,
but, of course, it ceased to be an abbey in 1539 when, under Henry VIII, all of
England’s abbeys and monasteries were forcibly closed, the monks driven away,
and an era of persecution of Catholicism began.

What saved the abbey as a building?
It was needed as a parish church, and at the beginning of the 17th century, its
roof was restored and repair work carried out — everything had been stripped
away under Henry — so that it could be used for Anglican services.

Then came the era of Bath’s greatest
fame: the 18th century. Among those who knew Bath Abbey was Richard “Beau”
Nash, who was master of ceremonies in the heyday of the city’s fashionable
social life; a wall tablet commemorates him. Another who worshipped here was
Isaac Pitman, inventor of Pitman’s shorthand.

Today, you can gaze up at the
magnificent vaulted ceiling that dates to the early 16th century. You can trace
an older history in the St. Elphege chapel or visit the chantry chapel of
William Birde, the abbey’s last prior. You can also note an American link: The
U.S. senator and land developer William Bingham died in Bath in 1804 and is
buried in the abbey.

Link to the Past

You will find little trace of the
long-ago monks whose presence created this whole building and who were the
custodians of its message. But you will find that somehow you can feel a bond
with them if you kneel and say a quiet prayer, knowing that the walls echoed to
their chants and to the words of the Mass and Daily Office long ago.

The restoration work carried out
from 1991-2000 has revealed a building of huge beauty, of which local people
are justly proud and which has its unique place in Britain’s history. And the
story isn’t over yet: Every visitor who comes here is part of it, and those who
use the building for its real purpose — prayer — are part of a link that goes
back to the Roman Empire itself, that same empire into which Christ was born.

While you are in Bath, drop in to
one of the city’s Catholic churches (St. John’s in South Parade, St. Mary’s in
Julian Road and St. Peter and Paul out at Combe Down). Pray that one day all
Christians in England will be in union with Peter’s successor in Rome.

Joanna
Bogle writes

from London.

Bath Abbey

12 Kingston Buildings

Bath BA1 1LT

44-0-1225-422462

BathAbbey.org

Planning Your Visit

Bath Abbey is open for visitors Monday
through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sundays from 1-2:30 p.m. and
4:30 to 5:30 p.m. It is closed for visits during Anglican service times. The
Vaults Heritage Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. Tower tours throughout the day take place daily, except on Sunday. The
abbey will be closed from June 29-July 2 inclusive.

Getting There

Bath Abbey can be reached by rail from
London (Paddington) in about two hours: Take the train to Bath Spa. There are
also buses from London (Victoria coach station). By car: Follow the M4 or A4,
but note that car parking is difficult in the city.

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